[leilaniana]

Is it normal not to be able to remember most of your childhood? I'm 35 years old and have very few actual memories from when I was younger. I have tons of pictures that I can look at, but none actually bring to mind a concrete memory.

In general, my memory is really bad. I can watch movies, then watch them again several months later and not remember how they went. I can learn something about my health, then forget about it a couple of years later. I don't forget everything, but select things I guess.

The few memories I have that aren't linked to photographs are little things - the Christmas tree on top of a bank building we drove by often, driving down roads that had red clay dirt alongside, and a random library room in my elementary school.

I had bad migraines starting at the age of 10, but other than that, nothing traumatic or abusive happened to me. I'm seeing a counselor and am interested in trying to access these memories, but maybe there's a reason I don't remember it all?

[jelly-bean]

I don't remember my childhood either but there is a reason for mine. I have amnesia due to a traumatic brain injury. I think that as you and your counselor get into your issues you will find one or more reasons for selective memories. Good Luck to you.

[~Christina]

I don't remember very much from my childhood , but things recently came to the surface that explains why I blocked it all out.

I hope you find what your looking for

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by leilaniana

Is it normal not to be able to remember most of your childhood? I'm 35 years old and have very few actual memories from when I was younger. I have tons of pictures that I can look at, but none actually bring to mind a concrete memory.

In general, my memory is really bad. I can watch movies, then watch them again several months later and not remember how they went. I can learn something about my health, then forget about it a couple of years later. I don't forget everything, but select things I guess.

The few memories I have that aren't linked to photographs are little things - the Christmas tree on top of a bank building we drove by often, driving down roads that had red clay dirt alongside, and a random library room in my elementary school.

I had bad migraines starting at the age of 10, but other than that, nothing traumatic or abusive happened to me. I'm seeing a counselor and am interested in trying to access these memories, but maybe there's a reason I don't remember it all?

for some people its normal and for others it isnt. having migraines can cause a person to have memory problems as can many other physical and mental health problems. my suggestion is talk with your counselor they will be able to tell you whether your memories can be retrieved /accessible or not and if so how to go about doing it.

[ForeverLonelyGirl]

Originally Posted by leilaniana

Is it normal not to be able to remember most of your childhood? I'm 35 years old and have very few actual memories from when I was younger. I have tons of pictures that I can look at, but none actually bring to mind a concrete memory.

In general, my memory is really bad. I can watch movies, then watch them again several months later and not remember how they went. I can learn something about my health, then forget about it a couple of years later. I don't forget everything, but select things I guess.

The few memories I have that aren't linked to photographs are little things - the Christmas tree on top of a bank building we drove by often, driving down roads that had red clay dirt alongside, and a random library room in my elementary school.

I had bad migraines starting at the age of 10, but other than that, nothing traumatic or abusive happened to me. I'm seeing a counselor and am interested in trying to access these memories, but maybe there's a reason I don't remember it all?

I wonder the same thing. My memory up until age 7 or 8 is very sketchy. From learning all the trauma that is caused by certain abuses, it certainly makes me very concerned that something terrible happened to me. I've never had any flashbacks, every.

Nothing obviously sexual happened to me as a child that I am aware of but my dad was rather inappropriate towards me when I became a teenager and would dress nice to go out or on a date. It was just the way he looked at me and things he said. Nothing whatsoever more than that. It does make me suspicious, but if it happened when I was young, it does not seem like it would have stopped.

I've never written this anywhere, never ever. I have thought this many times though.

Just wanted to let you know that I also experience this. I see tons of photographs from my early childhood, and yet no memory to go along with it. To me that is disturbing. I do have a few random memories like when I fell out of a tree and once when I got in serious trouble with my dad. I think he gave me a beating with a belt, I know I was terrified of him when that happened. I really did not understand at the time that I had done anything wrong. He probably overreacted as per usual. Also a memory of a scary car wreck with my mom, I vaguely remember crying a lot when that happened.

Never the less, I ended up with something like a depersonalization disorder as a teenager and lots of emotional problems. Way later ended up with symptoms of borderline personality. Those are mostly gone now, but I have never been great at handling personal relationships or responsibilities.

Sorry for the lengthy reply

[eskielover]

I don't have memories of my childhood like my mom did even though nothing bad happened in my childhood......basically NOTHING happened because my mother didn't drive & my dad worked when I was home.....but.

Here is my thinking on that.....I know that my mother shared the things that happened in her life with her cousin...fun weekends in the cabin with family & just good times....they shared those memories up until just before my Mom died at the age of 80. I don't have anyone in my life from my childhood days so I have never shared the memories so make them stick deeper in the memory. Now I think back & wonder at times if that really happened or what feelings I was really having when those things happened. I remember the fun stuff from summers with my grandparents (some even details) but absolutely nothing from my home life with my parents. I realized also that they were so dysfunctional that I didn't have a normal childhood that other kids had & no social interaction because my parents had no social contacts other than maybe once a year of if the church decided to include them because they were including everyone else.....I understand now because I thought back to why I had this feeling of being so embarrassed by my parents (especially my dad) that I didn't want anyone to know I belonged to them).....that is about the only memory I have that really stuck.....but no real memories of my life up through 6th grade other than the time with my grandparents.....like a black hole.

Have a black hole from 1994-2003 also & all the numerous hospitalizations that ran from one into another.....didn't realize that migraines could do that because I had horrible non-stop migraines through all those years until I finally got on a high dose of pain medication that finally controlled the pain......that's insight into the lack of memory.....I don't even remember the suicide attempts I had except for one.

LOL....I was a computer engineer for 15 years before 1994 so my mind was able to work & remember information.....just NOT my life that was nothing but fighting in my marriage.

[Middlemarcher]

I got into therapy over 2 years ago when I was facing a whole lot of stressful life situations at once. I always thought it was kind of odd that I had very few memories before the age of 9 or 10, but I always thought there was nothing traumatic or abusive in my childhood to explain this. (This is despite the fact that my ex-husband frequently, though gently, suggested that my upbringing was considerably more messed up than I thought it was.)

During the course of therapy, I've recovered some childhood memories of trauma and abuse, and I've also talked to my sister, who is 10 years older, about things she recalled-- things I would have witnessed, but do not remember. I think it was more of a surprise to me than to anyone when I remembered these traumatic things.

Just my experience. I have one other friend who has very few childhood memories, but he was mercilessly bullied in school when he was young, so I think his blocks probably relate to that sort of trauma.

(Mind you, during my first therapy session, in the course of routine questioning, I exhibited plenty of signs of trauma- past SH issues & 15+ years of daily SUI thoughts, etc. Somehow I managed to normalize these things in my head...)

[Love&Toil]

I remembered many things for a very long time. I had tons of photographs and we were encouraged to write a journal. So I had very vivid memories for a very long time of things both enjoyable and unsavory. At a certain point in life I threw out the journals because, well, some things are not meant to be remembered so vividly. It was more productive and healthy at a certain stage of my life to turn around and walk away from the memories.

I don't think about a lot of things now. I don't want to. I am consumed with functioning well in the present and meeting my daily responsibilities and if I stayed mired in the past, I could not function as well as I can in the present.

I hope you figure out your story and find some peace.

[rachelgreene2490]

Originally Posted by leilaniana

Is it normal not to be able to remember most of your childhood? I'm 35 years old and have very few actual memories from when I was younger. I have tons of pictures that I can look at, but none actually bring to mind a concrete memory.

In general, my memory is really bad. I can watch movies, then watch them again several months later and not remember how they went. I can learn something about my health, then forget about it a couple of years later. I don't forget everything, but select things I guess.

The few memories I have that aren't linked to photographs are little things - the Christmas tree on top of a bank building we drove by often, driving down roads that had red clay dirt alongside, and a random library room in my elementary school.

I had bad migraines starting at the age of 10, but other than that, nothing traumatic or abusive happened to me. I'm seeing a counselor and am interested in trying to access these memories, but maybe there's a reason I don't remember it all?

it is normal in some cases. but you can consult a counselor.

[Overwhelmed15]

In my humble opinion this should not be a big issue ....the worse is to remember every single detail about your childhood....when you want to forget it all ....

i don't remember much.

i remember some of the toys i had, and i remember some of the things back then that we don't have now.

but not a lot of what i did

my childhood (or rather lack of 1), was cut short because of my first mental health scare when i was just 9

[gayleggg]

I don't really remember much about my childhood either. I remember it being good until I was about 8 and then things started to go downhill. From then on I remember bits and pieces that are mostly painful or embarrassing.

I can't remember jokes that I've heard. I always had trouble in school that related to memorizing something. I can't remember dates or phone numbers. Thank goodness to my phone's address book or I would never be able to call anyone.

Sometimes I think my memory is faulty, too. I'm never sure if what I remember actually happened the way I think it did. This leaves me feeling unsure of myself and hesitant to bring up memories.

Originally Posted by gayleggg

I don't really remember much about my childhood either. I remember it being good until I was about 8 and then things started to go downhill. From then on I remember bits and pieces that are mostly painful or embarrassing.

I can't remember jokes that I've heard. I always had trouble in school that related to memorizing something. I can't remember dates or phone numbers. Thank goodness to my phone's address book or I would never be able to call anyone.

Sometimes I think my memory is faulty, too. I'm never sure if what I remember actually happened the way I think it did. This leaves me feeling unsure of myself and hesitant to bring up memories.

it's very interesting you bring up memory and remembering things.

while my memory is terrible (for remembering numbers, what happens in movies/ books, people's names, what i have to do in a day, even studdying), i sucked at school majorly- despite all that, i've never had a problem remembering jokes.

it's like for jokes i have an entire diffrent memory- where nothing else is stored, only jokes.

that's how it works for me.

my memory issues though (let's call it my main memory), hvae led to some interesting and embarrasing situations- probably the worst is the days when i can't remember if i've actually eaten dinner that day, and end up either not eating or eating the same meal twice

[Pikku Myy]

I remember special events starting at age two. Not the specifics, must be just the feelings and can describe everything I saw. This is good and bad in a way.... since I went thru severe trauma at age seven. Blame this on a picture memory.

i think an interesting question would be if we were to ask, what is your earliest childhood memory that you have?

that might get some interesting answers

[Love&Toil]

Originally Posted by shattered sanity

i think an interesting question would be if we were to ask, what is your earliest childhood memory that you have?

that might get some interesting answers

I remember witnessing some violence at age 3-ish. And standing in a field of poppies around that same age.

Originally Posted by Love&Toil

I remember witnessing some violence at age 3-ish. And standing in a field of poppies around that same age.

you witnessed violence at age 3?

outch.... that's young

my earliest memory is sitting in the living room, listening to rod steuart on vinyy

i hated rod steuart, and still do.

but that's my memory. even if it's of someone i don't really like

[Love&Toil]

Originally Posted by shattered sanity

you witnessed violence at age 3?

outch.... that's young

my earliest memory is sitting in the living room, listening to rod steuart on vinyy

i hated rod steuart, and still do.

but that's my memory. even if it's of someone i don't really like

Lol re Rod Stewart.

I did witness what in those days were called spankings but in my view they were more harsh. To my mind it was violence.

[ManOfConstantSorrow]

I have no idea if it is normal or not, but you if you have any issues that might be related to earlier life you might wish to try and write down a timeline of your life. People with early life difficulties apparently report trouble in recollection. Maybe good, maybe bad, but I like to go out and meet my troubles and not wait for them to find me, so I have invested time/effort to recall.

I have found it enlightening how one recollection leads to another until it is surprising how much you eventually come to remember for good or bad.

[eskielover]

I have seriously found that because I had no one to share my memories with, there was nothing to keep them alive other than some photographs that were taken from my childhood that triggers back some of the memories but without the pictures, I have no concept of time line. I can't even put together a time line from 1994 to 2003......but I can almost give you detailed to the minute details of the 5+ days of trauma I went through with the home care person who I caught abusing my mother who was dying of cancer.....mostly because of the police report & because my brain kept going over the details & wouldn't shut up along with the nightmares.

One of the earliest memories & not even sure how accurate it really was because I was only around 3. My great grandmother was dying & she was in what they called a sanitarium. It was in a building that was on the side of a hill & it had a huge long open room with windows overlooking the valley & all the beds were lined up along the inside wall.....remember the horrible smell. Then my great grandma died. I don't remember the funeral but I do remember the parkway outside her house where we were at after the funeral........no idea how accurate or not that memory was.

My other memories start around 5 when I took my first plane ride in a prop plane before jets........when it took off from Los Angeles AP, it took off over the ocean & circled back. I was sure the plane was going to fall into the ocean because nothing at that angle could stay where it was.....it had to slip out of the air & I was sure we were going to splash into the ocean any minute but we didn't......heading for Topeka Kansas, those planes weren't able to fly OVER storms but ended up going RIGHT through the middle....& I remember lightening flashing outside the window. It didn't hit the plane or anything.....but right after that, I looked out & one of the propellers quit turning ......they they said that they had to shut down the one on the other side of the plane to balance it out ......4 engines now down to 2.......didn't sound like good odds to even a 5 year old.....but we made it to Kansas City were my summer adventures began.

At that same age of 5, I remember we had gone out to some park like Discanso Gardens or something & my parents wanted to hold my hands.....for some reason (I still haven't figured out exactly why), I had felt so embarrassed by them that I didn't want anyone to even KNOW that I belonged to them so I pulled away & walked as far away from them as I could. I still wish I could come to know exactly why I felt as embarrassed by them as I did....all my life actually.....but not sure what triggered it into my knowledge in the first place at such a young age. Not having any siblings to share any perceptions with or memories with.....I haven't the foggiest idea what triggered those feelings....I know exactly why later on, but those thoughts were too sophisticated for a 5 year old.

[Ckstout]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

I don't remember very much from my childhood , but things recently came to the surface that explains why I blocked it all out.

I hope you find what your looking for

How old where you Christina when memories did finally surface?
I am 48 and can't remember things.

[BlueMag0723]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

I don't remember very much from my childhood , but things recently came to the surface that explains why I blocked it all out.

I hope you find what your looking for

I don't either. I'm in the process of trying to un-block with a counselor. Best wishes, thoughts to you Christina.

My earliest memories aren't until I was in school - and they are very pleasant.

I don't remember events so much as emotions. I will recall a very emotionally difficult situation, have then a partial memory of the situation and find it necessary to logically fill in some of the event. Much of my memory of my younger years aren't in fact memories of my own rather those of someone else and how they relate it.